David S. Goyer To probably end up writing SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL!!!

Hey folks, Harry here... So just a while ago I just got off the phone with Thomas Tull at Legendary Pictures who told me that the story that appeared over on LATINO REVIEW just frankly isn't true. Tull has not unilaterally hired Goyer to come in and write the new SUPERMAN. He loves Goyer, but frankly - the project isn't at the Script stage yet. Seems Nolan is still hatching some ideas. But he just wanted me to pass on that they have the highest enthusiasm for this project, but the story on Latino just isn't accurate. I'll see what more I can find out, but as of right now, there really isn't anything else to tell.

The fine fellas at Latino Review just landed a huge (if not entirely unexpected) scoop: Legendary Pictures has hired David S. Goyer to write the screenplay for THE MAN OF STEEL. The minute I heard Nolan was "godfathering" this project, I figured he'd entrust this reboot to his story-spinning partner on the last three Batman movies. And here we are!
Interestingly, Latino Review's source doesn't mention Nolan once. He credits Legendary head Thomas Tull with bringing on Goyer to craft a fun, John Byrne-esque script that will apparently have no ties to the Christopher Reeve pictures or Bryan Singer's attempted continuation of them (so no Brandon Routh). Fine by me. He also says the film will (blessedly) not be an origin story, and will involve Lex Luthor and Brainiac (commence freaking out about villain overkill... now!). It will also reflect contemporary society - i.e. The Daily Planet it taking in the shorts like every other daily newspaper in the world.
Head to Latino Review for the full scoop.

Anyhoo, as long as Jonas Nolan gets his mitts on the screenplay after Goyer, then all will be good. If he doesnt, and it's Goyer all the way, i'l start worrying<p><p>Especially if he is chosen to direct!!! *cough*Blade:Trinity*cough*

As a reporter, Kent is under pressure from editors to blog constantly. As a celebrity, Superman also has a strong presence in social media. But things take an interesting turn when Clark and Supes' Twitter feeds get crossed, revealing some very sensitive information...

What the hell does that even mean? I understand the implication in light of declining newspaper revenues, but this sentence makes no sense. Even tried replacing the "t" in "it" with an "s" so that there's a verb there, but it still doesn't make any sense.

Yes... Jim from "The (American) Office" may be our Steve Rogers....
That's the buzz on all the sites... it's supposedly a rumor, but numerous sources say he is Marvel and Johnston's pick.
No, this is not a joke!!!

...I smell "Luthiac" hiding in the wings. Jon Peters is in no way involved is he? If so, I hope Wild Wild West burned out his "giant robot spider" fetish. (Of course we'd still have to worry about sewer fights with Doomsday and Fortress of Solitude polar bear guards, not to mention gay robots...)

on the silver screen at last !
<p> man i hope luthor is mostly in the background being a corporate asshole, while Brainiac is the primary threat. <p> seriously, who's dying to see luthor again? will he surround himself with oafs again? it's getting soooo tired. <p> and yeah, Jonathon N. better be getting his mitts on this after the Goymeister.

Based on all the TB's here, it sounds like everyone wants something fresh. How about a Superman who goes postal on earth. Raping any chick he wants and raging through a global killing spree. I'd pay to see that...lot's of interesting concepts there.

This is a good thing. David Goyer is a talented writer who can pen a fun, respectfull comic book based movie.
John Byrne's Man of Steel run is one of the best post-70s take on Supers and Nolan is watching over all of this.
This will be a great film, hang on to your Green Lantern hockey shirts!

was just a bad impersonation of the mighty Reeve. <p> i'd rather see the re-animated corpse of Rudolph Hess play Superman instead of Routh again. well, maybe not Hess, but you know what i mean... maybe Goering or Mengele even.

I agree that if this is pure Goyer we are looking at the official long-term killing of this character on film. Goyer needs a person to perform rewrites, and he should also not be allowed anywhere near the Director's chair. I think Routh was good in the role and the negatives of the film were not on him. Ditch Lex Luthor..he needs a break as the bad guy...we don't need another land development swindle or another "bad guy in a giant robot suit" ending like Iron Man. We need a naturally superpowered kick-ass threat like Darkseid or Mongul with the Earth severely threatened by an alien assault with Supes (and maybe a guest star or three) as our only hope. He should have the opportunity to show why he is (arguably) the greatest superhero in comics.

Could we get Parasite? How about Darkseid? Metallo, even? Felix Faust or even a really hot fembot? Maybe a tie-in with Black Adam? Would you believe a girl scout with an Uzi, perhaps? Lex is getting overused. Brainiac is just an alien version of Lex. The best thing I have seen with Lex is Blackest Night where he gets the orange ring.

story goes like this: <p>Supes uses his x-ray vision to see girls naked. whenever they turn down his advances he quickly switches to Heat Vision and burns them to Kingdom Come. <p> at the end of act 1 he flies around the earth and turns back time. Act 2? see act 1. repeat.

Good Lord I hope this is a joke...if so, it is hysterical. If not a joke...then, really the worst casting in the history of film and this movie went from must see to must avoid. I like Krasinksi, but I also like Tina Fey and think she would make a horrible Captain America.

It was listed in another talkback, but worth sharing (from Cinematical):
<p>
"Chace Crawford, John Krasinski, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel and Michael Cassidy. They claim most of these guys are screen testing for the role this week. However, Cinematical received word yesterday through an anonymous tipster that Krasinski is all but a sure thing for the role of Marvel's star-spangled Avenger in Joe Johnston's upcoming film The First Avenger: Captain America. Surprised?"

This shit should've happened in the '90s, and I can't believe it took us two decades for somebody to say "Hey... TV audiences really liked that Superman animated show, that Smallville show, even that Lois & Clark show did pretty good... comic fans still like the books... huh. Why haven't we ever made a movie using the MODERN superman? The one all those shows and comics have been based on since FUCING 1986?!?!" This is so overdue it's hilarious, but THANK GOD.

Whatever stage this is at, they first and foremost need to use new villains for Supes. Lex Luthor is a bore, and has been in waaayyyy too many Superman projects. And fuck Brainiac being the first thing out of their mouths too - - Brainiac does not a good Superman villain make. Brainiac will bomb.

seriously they should leave it to some of the dc writers to write the script. there are some fantastic superman storys that arent predictible at all. red son for example is a great superman story (he lands in soviet russia instead of smallville)
or better yet lets just make an infinite crisis movie.... now that i would pay to see

My guess, Braniac and Lex conspire to crash an asteroid in the Pacific -which will cause a tidal wave that wipes out Cali - and kills 30 million people, and then he sells land in Nevada to the new homesteaders

Okay, so we know that Singer shot a whole bunch of Krypton prologue footage for the last flick (snippets even showed up in the trailers!), but I seem to remember hearing that he shelved it for a future Superman movie. Now that it won't appear to ever happen, what are the chances of ever seeing those scenes? Do we have to wait for another format change to upgrade SUPERMAN RETURNS before seeing it? <p> Also, mark me down in the column supporting Routh. Didn't care for his murky costume, but I thought the lad was just fine in the role - evoking Reeve nuances without directly copying him. I know Warners won't go with him again, but even Timothy Dalton got two swings at an iconic character...

Mark Valley as Captain America. I realize he's a bit older, but Cap does progress into leading the Avengers and should be in the same age bracket as Tony Stark, and Downey Jr. is terrific and no spring chicken. Why does the studio have such a fear of real adults when the most successful superhero films did not star kids out of 90210? The Avengers should not be lead by a kid, or John Krasinkski, who I just picture throwing his shield, and then looking at the camera with a smirk.

That guy couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. Just watch him on Chuck and it is clearly evident. The best thing that WB has done in years was to let his and Singer's contract expire. Superman Returns was a weak homage to Donner's version of the character that bastardized the franchise. Time to move on and get a great Superman film out.

#1, have a fully CGI version of Chris Reeve's Superman ala The Na'Vi with Brandon Routh doing the voice.....what? Don't laugh, I'm sure someone in Hollywood already came up with the idea. Second idea...how about we talk about the Captain America casting....in the Captain America thread. While we're taking Lex outta the picture, I think we should deep six The Joker from all Batman lore (Not really, but it's about the same idea.)

YES! FINALLY we'll (hopefully) get a GOOD Superman movie. They haven't made one yet. The Donner movies blew, and the Singer movie was one of the worst of the decade. (I wouldn't mind if they kept the John Williams theme, though... that's gonna be tough to beat.)

Well, he's shown that he can be good (usually in conjunction with someone like Nolan) and he's showed us how bad he can be (usually when working alone and directing. Example: Blade Trinity). Let's hope we get the former. Personally I was hoping for someone along the likes of Geoff Johns, but that was ever going to happen. When it's all said and done we'll probably get something of The Incredible Hulk quality, which (with Superman) might be pretty cool.

Goyer's 1998 "Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD" wasn't bad. Really, it wasn't. He captured the spirit of the character and crafted a fairly entertaining script. The only bad thing about that project was its low TV movie budget, and they made the most out of that.

But I'm assuming the bean counters are thinking, "hey, this Goyer guy co-wrote The Dark Knight, right? DAMN! We made a TON of loot offa that! Hire him!" <br><br>I think he'll do a fine job as a writer on this, just keep him away from a camera (BLADE:TRINITY was embarrassingly awful).

He can write them quite well, but not having seen Blade: Trinity, I can't speak to his directing skills. Still, if you're going to have someone reboot a series, you could do much worse than to have the guy who rescued Batman do it.

I have 2 stories...an origin with Zod and an established Superman story with Brainiac. My main influence is the animated series which got almost everything right...except for Superman himself.
<p>
If you're not going to hire some unknown talkbacker then hire Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and an established screen writer to pen the script to be directed by Alfonso Cauron

Byrnes universe established that Clark is the real guy and not the disguise. Superman is Clarks alter-ego, not the other way around as has previously been the case in previous versions. <br>
So why not make his costume have a real tangible reason for its existence? <br><br>
Superman can enlist the help from various of the technological, alien, or otherwise magical sources that have appeared on the show. <br>
For instance look at Martian Manhunter... he is supposedly a private eye, how come nobody ever sees him for what he really looks like? <br>
Could it be that he has alien technology woven into his coat that allows people to see a face that is different from that of the wearer?<br>
Or he can even stumble upon the blanket he was wrapped in as a child coming down to earth. Martha may have put it away in a box or something. That blanket could easily be made of a material that would shield the childs identity from anyone looking at him while wearing the blanket. (not sure why i baby would need to hide his identity... but you get what im saying) <br><br>
His suit should be the basis of what makes people not realize that he and Clark are the same guy.
If you give that power to the suit, then you remove any hokeyness that could ever be thrown the suits way.<br>
The unanswered or badly answered reasoning behind why people cant tell between superman and kent has always been patently silly. Very similar to the reasoning behind why Green Lantern cant deal with the color yellow. But then as time has passed, talented writers have made plausible reasonings to that. Now its not some hokey allergy to yellow or whatever. <br>
Same with Martian Manhunter and fire... the writers have worked out really good backstory to explain why he has a problem with fire.<br>
Not so with the whole Clark/Superman double identity thing.<br>
And this is a good opportunity to fix that. <br><br>
So once he puts on that suit and Superman meets Lois Lane... she will not have the faintest idea that he is also Clark. <br>
And its better than the idea of him blurring his face while dressed as Superman.

http://tinyurl.com/yhnru92
Diane Nelson, head of DC Entertainment, told MTV.com that the recent report that Christopher Nolan was mentoring a new Superman movie was nothing but rumor.
"Wouldn't you like to know!" laughed Nelson when asked if there was any truth to the recent rumor that "The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan will oversee a reboot of the "Superman" movie franchise.
"We don't have any plans about that, and as I've mentioned, in the coming months we'll be making a lot of announcements about what our content plans will be," she added. "But right now, that's nothing but rumor - and we frankly don't say a whole lot more about rumor than that, so..."

... is only 3 years older than Christian Bale. He, or somebody like him, should be Superman. They need to immediately make this Superman noticeably different than the previous one, starting by casting somebody with the maturity and gravity of Hamm. Just recasting Chris Reeve was a mistake for Returns, like casting a Michael Keaton look alike for Batman Begins. The whole movie needs to feel like its set in a completely different world then the previous films. Don't make it dark, but make it real and complex, like Alex Ross manages to do. Make Lex Luther a ruthless powerful man, not a goofy schemer. A head of a conglomerate or politician who is happy to make a deal with the devil. Make it like its a sequel to a Superman movie that was never made, like Dark Knight would have felt if there had been no Begins.

i love Blade,but Blade is not Superman.And lets face it BB had flaws and it was fortunate that he didnt work in DK (althought he did get credits) otherwise DK would have been inferior with him.
<P>Supes is a character with a lot of content to explore,dont treat him like an action buddy,he is more than that.Goyer is good for b rated heroes but not for the most iconic one ever.

No matter who the villain is, Lex Luthor should exist as the king of Metropolis. He doesn't need to be the main bad guy, or even a major player, but just have him be present. Look at the cartoon and Smallville- the way that even when Superman is fighting someone else, Lex is always part of the fabric in the background. <p>Lex is proud and strong and rich. No wigs, no hiding in the subways, no robbing old ladies. He should sit in his penthouse daring Superman to come and take him out, knowing that he's smart enough to never leave any evidence so Superman is forced to just tolerate Lex's existence.

Feb. 24, 2010, 4:50 p.m. CST

by dailysportspages

Fast forward 10 years in the future. <br>
Superman is dead. (quick flashbacks to his fight with Doomsday)<br>
His death is a national holiday.<br><br>
Lex Luthor is president of the US and on the verge of being voted in as the first president of earth.<br>
Luthor has long ago become a host for Braniac. When Braniac made his first visit to the planet he chose its inhabitant with the highsest IQ. <br>
Luthor still remains in control though, Braniac long ago been suppressed. Having the Braniac nanites inside of him has increased his intelligence tenfold.<br>
He has used this enhanced mental ability to essentially become the savior of the planet. <br>
Ending drought in Africa, improving farming yields to incredible levels, making racism punishable by jail time, etc...<br>
He even reduced global warming by creating a new atmospheric layer to cover the breaches of ozone.<br>
Lex Luthor has become the great benevolent dictator... the "destiny" that Superman always wrestled with for himself.<br>
The people of America and the Earth revere and fear him at the same time.<br><br>
The Great Eradition War was fought between the super beings of earth and Lex's discovery named the Eradicator.<br>
A virtual clone of Superman that was Lex Luthors chief enforcer. He was ultimately defeated by a coalition of superheroes headed by Batman.<br>
(montage of the battle between Batman and Eradicator displayed on Bruce Wayne's computer) All superheroes have been eradicated or imprisoned during the war, save the few who have survived in the shadows. <br>
Superman is their messiah, they await his resurrection. And Bruce takes it as his job to find the way to bring him back. <br><br>
An old retired Bruce Wayne has the body of Superman in suspended animation. A sort of coma.<br>
Bruce knows the truth about what Lex has been doing all along, he is not as benevolent as he seems.<br>
The truth about Lex is that his goal is to increase the worlds population to its maximum capacity.<br>
Braniac would then use the collective brainpower of humanity as a mass storage device for himself. <br>
Its revealed that Braniac has reached the limits of his storage ability, and has come to this planet in order to use is as a giant hard drive.<br>
He had previously done this with the city of Kandor, shrinking them in order to make his bio-storage device portable.<br><br>
Superman is reborn when Bruce Wayne finally is able to figure out the controls of the Fortress of Solitudes healing device.<br>
Lex has a plan in place, always one step ahead he has refitted Metallo as his personal anti-superman weapon. He is no match for Superman.<br>
Superman then confronts Lex in his White House fortress.<br>
As he meets Lex face to face he notices the wrinkles in Lex's face start to widen.<br>
Terrified Lex screams in agony as he vainly wonders what is happening to him.<br>
His skin is pulled away from his body to reveal the fully realized cybernetic green hued being we all know from the comics.<br>
Lex Luther is no more, his incubation complete, he is now BRANIAC.<br><br>
Superman and BRANIAC battle, with BRANIAC ultimately being defeated of course.<br>
BRANIACS last command was to open the gates to the Phantom Zone.<br>
As BRANIAC's body lay destroyed we see 3 black clothed beings come down from the heavens.<br>
The camera zooms in to reveal the face of Zod. <br><br>
Superman: Jon Hamm <br>
Lex Luthor: Nicolas Cage<br>
Lois Lane: Rachel Weisz<br>
Bruce Wayne: Stephen Lang<br>
Oliver Queen: Matthew McConaughey<br>
Jimmy Olsen: Ethan Embry<br>
Metallo: Tahmoh Pennikett<br>
Eradicator: Tom Welling<br>
Zod: Jude Law (cameo)

Saying all his stories are the same is like saying all of Batman's stories are the same. Superman has a million villains who are stronger and more powerful than he is, but for some reason the movies only show "real estate scam" Lex.

But it's far to busy to the basis for a film (or even three films) if they're going to use any part of All Star Superman,it should be the quiet moments, romance, and humor. Superman saving the jumper, his kiss with Lois in the moonlight, and setting his asshole colleague's hairpiece on fire were just as outstanding as watching him battle a sentient red sun with a baby sun-eater in my opinion.

He's more like an evil Tony Stark with his powersuit and weapons and whatnot--I would still prefer a Superman movie that DID NOT involve Lex Luthor in any way unless he was in prison and Supes went to visit him all Silence of The Lambs like--heck that might be the way they are going with Brainiac being the main baddie. Still would prefer a Darkseid, Parasite, Metallo, etc.--gimmie some weirdness and colorful super villains Supes can punch, please.

Just no more of this Goofball, "Greatest criminal mind of our time."/Land-grab-scheme bullshit. We need a Bad ass Luthor, and let him try to ally himself with a Brainiac or some other superpowered villain...just leave him an ace up his sleeve.

How about a character that can stand on her own two feet, doesn't suffer fools or take shit, and can hold her own in a crowd of reporters? And maybe an actress that can back that up? I think you'll make more money.

So the climax will be fucking nonsensical, there will be the most boring car chase since BATMAN BEGINS in there, he'll have to get Ryan Reynolds in there somehow given that Goyer think the sun shines out of Reynold's ass since BLADE: TRINITY, and while the villain may get all the best lines, you will never see a more boring Superman.<P>
Going on Goyer's work on the BATMAN movies and his thrilling denouement to the formerly awesome BLADE trilogy, I confidently predict goyer will fuck this up. I'm beginning to think his DARK CITY was an aberration: one stone-cold classic movie in a sea of turgid bollocks. I'm not holding out hope this will be awesome... but neither will it be a failure of NIGHTMARE IN BAY'S PANTS proportions. SUPERMAN MEHS?? You bet.

If they don't cast him, my interest in this will wither. He's the right age (let's have a SuperMAN as opposed to a Superboy like Routh), great actor and the right face and physique. And screen charisma to burn. Seriously, there is no one better around.

...an approach that works with one superhero franchise automatically translates smoothly and seamlessly to another. So I can't think of anyone more qualified to bring a fantastical, colorful, and over-the-top character like Superman to life than Nowlan. Wait, are we saying "Nowlan" or "Nolan"? Is it the guy that created Buck Rogers or the one that took down Batman with some dogs? Either way, at least he's merely "godfathering" and not directing. It's always better to have more than one guy in charge of making final creative decisions on a film. This also keeps things interesting for the studio, by giving them more than one talent to side with. Let's face it, a Superman movie should NEVER be easy to produce.

Zod, Lex, That Lee Pres On Nail Chip and Dale Guy, Drunk Reeves. Reall what superman and the worlds biggest problem here. A red sun. If the sun suddenly went Red Superman would be like everyone else, but what if everyone else suddenly became just like him. What then would a world of superhumans be like as it comes to an end. Thats the superman I want to see. Sun goes bad. everyone gets strong as hell but doom looms. Superman becomes just like us. People with power but no power to stop doom. Wouldnt the chaos be amazing.

THAT is how Superman should be. There should be battles so vast and frightening that earthquakes happen in the shadow of their punches. Windows shatter. Cities are destroyed. DARKSEID!!<P>
Enough with the pussy Supes already. Bring on the Badass Big Blue Boy Scout!!

And I also echo the sentiments mentioned above -- keep the John Williams score, jettison everything else. <br><br>Also, and most importantly, DO NOT MAKE IT AN ORIGIN FILM. If they're gonna go with origin, they can condense that into a 10 minute (15, tops) opening montage-y scene. EVERYBODY ON EARTH knows Superman's backstory, we seriously don't need to be told again.

Look, let's face it. This one movie is going to take two years, and it's Hollywood law to make a trilogy. Hell, even Welling is almost too old now. The one thing done correctly was casting Superman and Lois slightly young so a trilogy stretched over 8-10 years wouldn't end up with noticeably aged actors. Although Lois was not only cast too young, she was cast fucking poorly with an attractive featherweight who could not channel the cynical city-girl charm of the world's greatest goddamn reporter. Possibly the worst creative decision outside of the action-packed climax that featured, uh...Superman flying an island into space. As time goes on, that movie disappoints me more and more. It could have been GREAT and it was just...money fluttering in the wind.

He's almost completely retarded. I say almost because he's the one who made Nolan keep the Scarecrow mask, and wrote the first and only good Blade. But 2 was terrible, his solo movies were crap, Threshold was garbage, Flashfoward reeks of shit, and Blade 3 is universally an abomination.

Honestly, after that last one anything would be an improvement. It's amazing how wrong they got it with Superman Returns. I mean, couldn't they just have read the script and been like "What is this bullshit? A bastard super kid? Lex bilking old ladies out of their pensions? Yet another land grab scheme? Does Superman fight anymore or just lift a lot of heavy things? I mean, we all enjoy Olympic weightlifting but no one is going to pay $10 to watch two hours of it, cape or no cape."

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: IGN has heard from reliable sources that Tull is downplaying this report. Goyer is in fact on the project, but not only that -- his The Dark Knight co-writer Jonah Nolan will also be scripting Superman: The Man of Steel along with him
http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/107/1071879p1.html

who is going to be the Villain? I'd suggest Bizarro or Mister Mxyzptlk.
Why? Because we've done somber and evil; Superman needs a comedian foe in Mister Mxyzptlk, and possible ally in Bizarro. By the way, Sly Stone would make a great Bizarro. Already talks like him, and looks like a melted-down version of Superman, no makeup required.

I want a Prime movie. Why not. It'll be big and dumb and no one knows who he is. They can make him as jerky as they want. Big money from the kiddies. AND once again Dwayne Johnson is Black Adam. No one else.

I love grand master Christopher as much as the next, but like getting a trillion dollars with the catch of getting paris hilton's valtrex needing vag stapled to my face isn't worth it, so is Christopher nolan "Godfathering" this new batch of fliqs.

LOVE IT! John Byrne's comics were themselves partly inspired by the original Superman movie, which John Byrne praised as the ultimate incarnation of the character up to that point in time. Byrne's stories were a fantastic, realistic reboot of the character that has gradually been torn to shreds by the hacks at DC Comics. One request: KEEP THE MUSIC! Bring back John Williams' themes and John Williams himself if you can pull it off! Oh, and make that horrible Superman kid a dream.
My idea for the next movie has always been to have it open with Superman awakening on Brainiac's ship as his prisoner (shades of Crystal Skull's opening, but that was a great opening...just imagine the movie opening in outer space, zooming in one Brainiac's alien ship, and seeing Superman wired up to the wall in some kind of containment unit). In my idea, Brainiac has been trying to pick Superman's brain for Kryptonian information and pumping him with all kinds of electricity, chemicals, etc. This has caused Superman mental stress and hallucinations, one of which was Superman Returns and that horrific kid. Makes sense that Superman would hallucinate most of that since it was ripped off of what he experienced in the original movie. Imagine even a Bourne Identity style script, where Superman is suffering amnesia and has to piece together what happened to him and where he came from. He could end up figuring that all out, defeat Brainiac (apparently) and return to earth. Then Luthor could get involved. But halfway through the movie we find out Brainiac reconstituted himself and teams up with Luthor for some kind of world-domination scheme. No more shady land deals...we need to get back to the take-over-the-world stuff, e.g. General Zod and the gang.
Spacey would be fine to return as Luthor, although my favorite cast member from Superman Returns was whoever played Jimmy Olsen. I am ambivalent on Routh...if he is sent to acting camp for several years until the movie's ready to shoot than I'll change that to a maybe. But Kate Bosworth must not, absolutely not come back. I'd take Margot Kidder at her current age before the banal Bosworth.

Superman had returned to find that Lex Luthor is President of the United States after conning the American masses into electing him. Maybe there could be a Prez Lex in this upcoming film. ZOOEY FOR LOIS!

...doesn't seem to fit with the rich, colorful world of the Superman comics. Singer attempted a similarly cold approach to Superman's world, alienating much of the audience in the process. Despite Nolan's success, I don't understand the creative reasoning behind handing the Superman series to a team that specializes in grounding their characters in (a superficially similar) reality. So, besides their names (and requisite credits) what is the Nolan/Goyer team bringing to the table that Singer had not already? Perhaps I'm being presumptuous, but do we really need another 'dark, brooding' Superman?

I am curious about why is Superman Returns considered such a bad movie? I admit it wasn't everything we could have hoped for, but is anything ever going to be good enough? If the budget would have been 20 mil less would be prepping for a sequel with Routh?

I was watching these cartoons on youtube and realized how awesome it is to have superman not be a deity but actually get roughed up by regular goons. There was always a question of "will he?" "can he?" as opposed to the current conundrum of how the fuck can you create a challenge, a story arc, and growth to an invincible, and rather bland character who's already perfect.
Or just give us a bad guy like Nolan's joker, someone too flawed and too human to steal the show and sympathy from the rather inhuman superman.

It's super easy to create a threat for someone like Jason Bourne. That's not hard to write. Why would you want Superman to be so weak and ordinary that it doesn't take a creative writer to give him a challenge? That'd be sort of like writing an episode of MacGyver where MacGyver doesn't have to invent any clever gizmos because the villains are really weak and he can just punch them out. In Superman, the villains have to be the MacGyvers of the story, coming up with clever schemes to fight Superman. Why you would want to make it easy for the writers instead of challenging them and making them be creative can only boggle the mind. Let's also take a look at Superman 2, where Mario Puzo wrote the hands-down greatest plot we have ever seen in a superhero movie. It's frickin' genius on every level, one of the greatest superhero stories we have ever seen. The potential to pull off something that great remains with Superman and one only needs to look at the Byrne comics, the '90s animated series or some other sources to see how many good Superman stories are out there.

Here he is playing supes for almost 10 years and they give the suit and franchise to some. New guy. They should end smallville and make that they new movies they got already a huge fan base. Also michael rosenbaum is lex luthor more so than clancy brown.

Rosenbaum lex knows clark's secret identity. How awesome would it be in a movie to see lex torrment superman knowing his identity. Clark wouldn't feel safe anywhere. It would make lex with all his millions a real threat. Have him help a real sup villian with lex being the brains and someone being the muscle to detroy clark and superman. Id pay to see that

cmon that was a great idea because returns was horrible. in fact smallville is really the only thign that keeps me a superman fan other then that hes boring. there was really no need for returns, keeping in the same universe as the donner series. thats like if lucas would have made star wars in 77, empire strikes back in 80 and waited till 99 to come out with return of the jedi. no need for it. that really disappointed me that there not rebooting the series

Kent as a Mike Royko style human-interest columnist makes vastly more sense than Kent as a "reporter". (free to set his own schedule, subjects, etc) -- And Kent should always wear a bulky bullet-proof vest under his crumpled suits making him look like an office potato. And Kent can change his face so Superman doesn't LOOK like Clark Kent (he had that power in the early strips -- it helps the premise)

Not exactly a pure reboot, but continuing the story in an alternate timeline. <br>
Instead of going back in time, you are basically just saying that everything that happened to Superman prior to THIS movie... was a lie. A dream or set of false memories implanted by Braniac in order to capture the synapse responses in Supermans brain according to the situations and emotions being falsified.<br>Superman then has to try to piece back what his real origin is.
<br>
Thanks to a previous talkbacker who came up with part of this idea.
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You make a new trilogy with an older Superman who has to defeat whatever foes that are put in front of him, while at the same time chipping away at various blocks in his memory, trying to figure out what is true and what is Brainiacs altered memories.
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He doesnt know/love Lois the way he remembers, he finds out his parents are still alive even though he remembers them to be dead, etc...
So he slowly has to adjust back to what his reality really is.
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All the while he has moments of doubt, doubt as to why he is supposed to care for this world if everything he remembers is not true. If he doesnt even know why or how he came to even have his powers, having misgivings about his role here, etc...
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But he eventually triumphs, his true nature shines through, his love for Lois naturally rekindles because its really always been there. Its as if he met her for the first time all over again.
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You spend the whole next trilogy of movies clearing up these inconsistencies in his memory, in the mythos. <br>
Instead of having to devote an entire movie to the origin of Superman, you can spread it out between all 3 movies without having it bog any one movie down.
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Because its just not us are learning his origin... Superman himself has to learn who Superman is as well.

1. Terrible story, made zero sense. Am I really supposed to believe Superman made his own spacepod sat in it for years without the aid of the yellow sun on a hunch his dad was wrong and the planet was still there?
2. Routh lacked the charisma Reeves had and was void of any emotion. Maybe not his fault since the script was bad, but Reeves was way better.
3. Changeover in elevator??? Am I supposed to suspend disbelief so much and except that superman would fly through the ceiling of an elevator and then roof of a building and no one says a word??
4. If superman does not even flinch when some bad dude shoots a bullet at his eye, why is he ducking when some debris fly towards him from a damaged airplane?

in modern times. I know they want to eventually tie the Superman films to the Batman films, but I always thought the Superman character worked best when he was set in the 1930' or 1940's. Just bring the Fleischer Superman cartoons to life. That has always been my favorite Superman. It works for the character too, I mean with Clark being a mild mannered reporter. What is he going to be in this, a mild mannered blogger? I want to see Clark wearing a fedora and trench coat, doing some actual investigating, running into a phone booth (not too many of those anymore) change into Superman and leap into the air and save a Zeppelin from burning to the ground, fight against Nazi Robot invaders who have had a little help from Superman's evil Alien android nemesis. Due to the nature of the character and his powers and "mythology," I always felt that setting the Superman film in the 1930's or 1940's will give the filmmakers an easier time for the audience to accept things. Setting it in modern times is distracting. It worked in the late 70's/early 80's due to technology and social themes being similar. Setting it in today's world would take away too much from the character.

We've had him in every damn Superman movie EVER, can't we have ONE without him? Give Superman COOL shit to fight! Give us crazy cool effects, something we've never seen before! THAT'S what audiences want.
AND NO EMO BULLSHIT. Superman is suppose to be what we aren't, no petty women problem please...

I want to keep this short so someone actually reads it. If you're Chris Nolan, godfather/overseer of the new Superman film(s) here is what you SHOULD do. Lay out your epic Superman trilogy (trilogies are all the hype these days). Hire your director for all 3, cast your principals. Clark, Lois, Jon and Martha, Lex Luthor, etc etc. Have Luthor be the serious billionare he is as depicted in the cartoon series. I always liked the Billy Zane suggestions. But I digress. Pick your "secondary" villians for the 3 movies. 1. Metallo. 2. Zod. 3. Braniac (and have Braniac always be lurking in the background of the other films). Cast all the roles and start shooting. While the first Superman film is being shot, you simultaneously shoot a movie called "Krytpon" with a different director/actors/etc. From this movie, you'll have your Jor-El (who will only need to be seen in small bits in the Superman film being filmed at the same time so scheduling shouldn't be a problem. Zod will be in place, Braniac, etc. These are the stars of these films. Make it an epic 2 hour science fiction masterpiece. I can talk about all the different things they could do, space battles, show us the various councils, etc but I don't want to drag this on. Here is a reference for Krytpon's history http://tinyurl.com/y9757bh. Have this movie end in 2012-like destruction with Jor-El racing to get his son off the planet. The movie ends with the rocket leaving. "Superman: The Man of Steel" opens with the rocket landing in Kansas. Buy your tickets on fandango now.
KRYPTON: 5/23/13
Superman: The Man of Steel: 7/26/13

As much as I don't like Goyer, I like the direction this Superman is taking. Not an origin story, and not a reboot, and finally FINALLY we are getting a cool villian. And as much as it might seem weird that Nolan is involved in some way, it might be good in that Nolan could be the right one who starts tying the DC universe together. I'd trust Nolan more than someone like George Miller coming out of nowhere to make a really lame Justice League film. Kabish?

And no one apart from Dwayne McDuffie cares about him because most people don't want to see a Superman that's black just for the sake of being black. It's like casting Ben Stiller as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I'd rather see the Nolan Batman remain in it's own separate, "realistic" universe. I don't want to see some cornball cross over nonsense. I mean, that kind of cross over stuff is great in comics, and can be great in movies, but I think Nolan's "realistic" take on Batman would be ruined by crossing over with Supes, make it hokey. Anyone get what I'm saying or am I just ranting? I mean, eventually when they get around to a Justice League movie, I'd almost rather see a completely new cast.

<p>
Metropolis looked like sunny Sidney! <p>
Metropolis was always an analogue of New York and the gritty 70’s NY in Superman 1&2 was perfect. The fact that they added an annoying blond character with an unbearably strong Australian accent on the plane/shuttle sequence didn’t help either! (and people make fun of Jake’s slight aussie accent in Avatar!)
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Strange flashback scenes like the one with young Clark Kent learning to jump and float in Smallville<p>
Sure it looked good, but what was the point in the context of the main story? The old broken cradle visual gag and baseball throw in superman 4 was more effective in evoking some nostalgia of Clarks youth while furthering the plot of that terrible film. THAT’S how pointless the superman returns /Smallville scenes where.<p>
Actually you would think re-watching superman 4 (on TV with a bad hangover during Christmas holidays, I hadn’t seen it in decades since I saw it in the cinema as a kid so don’t make fun) would increase ones appreciation of Singers weird take of the Donner original, but instead it did the opposite. Sure Superman 4 is without a doubt one of the worst Action adventure/sci-fi movies of the 80’s (laughably bad sfx, masonry vision and breathing in space) but plot wise it made more sense than superman returns if you think about it.
<p>Okay back to my list<p>
Sidney, tacked on flashback scene, oh <p>
The KID?<p>
Where was that plot going to go in the sequels? The actor wasn’t a Jaden Smith or bowl hair cut Phantom Menace brat by any means but the whole plot came across as creepy stalker-ish despite everything Singer tried to do to make it not seem so … well creepy and staker-ish,
And what is Lois’ boyfriend going to think when Junior starts flying around his Sidney bay property one day, he probably have to give Mick Dundee a shout and knock back a few Fosters to drown his sorrows down the old watering hole in downtown “metropolis”! <p>

Since everyone is freaking out about the "Byrne"ization of the new film, I thought it would be valuable to take a moment and examine what it was that Byrne's Superman take actually WAS.
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Byrne chose to emphasize the "man" in Superman. He lowered his power levels to the point where lifting a tank actually required a little bit of effort. Considering that one of the biggest knocks on the Superman films has been his lack of humanity (especially in Singer's Kal-Jesus-El interpretation), I think that showing a Superman who actually has to struggle SOMEWHAT to deafeat determined opponents is valuable.
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He also made Clark Kent the core personality. This is one of the great arguments of Super-fandom; whether Clark or Superman is the disguise. Byrne chose to make Superman the costume that Clark puts on so that he can continue to enjoy a psuedo-normal life outside of it.
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In fact, in the modern world, where real-time reporting of current events is available to ANYONE, not just a mild-mannered reporter at the Daily Planet, it almost becomes necessary to show that it is Clark who WANTS to be a journalist to affect change in his "real" life.
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Finally, he grounded Superman in a much more realistic world, which is in keeping with the theme of the Nolanverse Batman. Lex Luthor isn't a mad scientist or real estate-snatching loon, he's a corporate mogul who has the city firmly under his thumb and is revered as one of its most prominent figures until Superman appears to show that there's a better way.
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I look forward to the scenes of Lois wondering why the weight on Clark's Nautilus is set so low that she can lift it, because he can't really judge what's "heavy". I look forward to the awkward love-triangle of Cat-who-wants-Clark-who-wants-Lois-who-wants-Superman.
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My random (and, I believe inspired) casting choice: Michael Chiklis as Perry White. C'mon, Vic Mackey storming through the city room, cigar in hand, bawling "KEEEENT!!!"
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For those of you who aren't actually familiar with Byrne's run, go back and reread the first 25 issues of Superman starting in '86, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you find a hero who you are simultaneously awed by and identify with. THAT, my friends, is what this franchise needs.

All they need to make Superman into something similiar to JJ Abrams' TWILIGHT TREK is to dig up JJ's scrip he wrote years ago. I once made a search for JJ in this site, and oneof the results was moriarty's review for the script. And it was a complete evisceration job. Suprising, considering how late Mori and the whole of AICN kissed the ass and sucked his dick for MISSION RETARD 3 and TWILIGHT TREK. But back then, JJ was not the guy who "created" LOST, he was just a struggling writer looking for an agle, he was the writer of ARMAGEDDON and REGARDING HENRY. And Mori and the rest of AICN had no problem putting JJ's ass where it belong, in the puddle of mediocrity. JJ's script for Superman, as told by Moriarty, is a continious string of retardnes,s stupidity, ignorance and bad calls from an incompetent writer. Suffice to say, Abrams wanted Lex Luthor to be a kriptonian. It was great to read the talkbackers' reactions, they were DEMOLISHING! Really, if you want to know how bad JJ is, all it takes is to know about that script. All he has done afterwards is disguising his retard bulslhit he creates with glossy nonsense. The writing was in the wall.

So, apparently it would be possible to judge your current skill at writing by going back in time seven years and looking at a first draft of one of your works?
For crying out loud, people, have you never heard of the word "growth"?

.... Asimov? Yeah, I'm serious. <p> <p> EVERY talkback about EVERY movie is hijacked with his relentless (and WRONG) diatribes against Abrams and Star Trek. <p> <p> FUCK OFF ASIMOV - it's been nearly a year, and it was a cool fucking movie, and still is. <p> <p> This new Supes and the new Nightmare On Elm Street have FUCK ALL to do with JJ Abrams, or Star Trek, or Mission Impossible III. <p> <p> You border on the pathological. But most of all you're just fucking BORING.

Keep Routh: wasn't his fault the Superman Returns script gave him nothing to do. He brought a quiet dignity and gravitas to the part, and I wish we could've seen more of that than the moping over Lois the script demanded of him. I'd love to see him in PROPER Super-action. And if there's one criticism I'd make of his performance, it's that yes, he did come off a little too young and wiry (I'm aware he was older than Reeve was when filming the original). But I'm sure by now Routh looks a little craggier, could beef up a little more, and could come off with a good deal more maturity. And give him more Clark moments. <p> <p> Singer and Co treated Donner's flicks far too reverentially - BUT - face it, most moviegoers (and like it or not, THAT's who these films are made for, not us comics geeks) know the characterisations from those flicks, not Byrne, not Birthright, not the new "Secret History" or whatever... <p> <p> But ditch Luthor. <p> <p> And sorry - as ridiculous as Abrams' script from years back was, if someone were to write him one that sticks to established continuity and characters (and no, we definitely don't need another origin) I'm pretty sure if they got Abrams behind the camera, it'd be sensational. <p> <p> I'll say it again: SEN FUCKING SATIONAL.

What's your problem, GAY FOR JAYJAY? You want a hug? a pat in your head? You want me to say "everything is going to be OK?". How hard were you dancing naked at the fires and shouting the praises of JJ Abrams from his stupid dumb movie? And invoking his name for every fucking movie that was about to be made, for him to be it's director? And now you want the ban-hammer on somebody who's paying back? Can i call you a fascist? Can I? Ask for banning!!! Tsk tsk!! Learn to live in democracy, dude. Democracy, you ever heard of that? Deal with it.

Even among superheros he's just too powerful. The way writers and filmmakers have come to find ways to make him momentarily powerless so that they could build drama for a character which is, in all other ways, a god, is just silly. They made him too great, too invincible. And then they have to invent this silly stuff to make him TEMPORARILY vulnerable, so they can milk suspense.<br><br>No, i never liked Superman much. I'd rather stick with Batman and Spider-Man.

Seriously, I just wanna know what this pathological desire of yours, to invade every unrelated talkback, and spout vitriol at a director whose movie came out nearly a YEAR AGO (and there have been many, MANY more shit movies since), is all about? Honestly dude. Enlighten me. <p> <p> As for your misguided notion that this site sucks JJ's cock constantly - may I suggest that you are in a VAST minority (contributors and talkbackers all included) when it comes to opinions on the aforesaid flick? Hmmm? <p> <p> If you want to talk about director's cocks being sucked, it's unfair to just single out Abrams. I really aren't a rabid fan of his. I enjoyed Mission Impossible III (the most faithful to the original series, for a start) and really really like Star Trek. I was never into Alias, I'm aware - as are most people - he has had very little to do with Lost since the pilot - and haven't seen much else he's done. Cloverfield? Meh. Not his movie. Felicity? Never saw it. Forever Young, Regarding Henry? Both shit. <p> <p> By your definition, this site gobbles cock on more directors than just him. To whit: <p> <p> Romero. Not made a decent movie since 1985. <p> Tobe Hooper. Not made a decent movie since Poltergeist. Which he probably didn't make anyway. <p> John Woo. Never made a good film in Hollywood. <p> Brian DePalma. Last watchable flick was 20-odd years ago. <p> Eli Roth. Hack. <p> Tarantino. Great director, but no longer gets a free pass. Needs a script editor. And a spellchecker. Has great ideas to homage those pulpy trashy movies he loves, but can't help himself and over-indulges his own internal monologues by transferring them onto his characters. Worked early on. Fucked Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds COMPLETELY up. <p> <p> There are more. Shall I go on? <p> <p> Your crusade against JJ Abrams - in my opinion a very very competent director of mainstream Summer blockbusters - is baffling. And once again, boring. <p>

Nothing will ever top Donner's Superman films. In fact, I wish they would edit the two films together into one uber-superman movie. Get rid of the turning back time by reversing the Earth's rotation plot at the end of the second one, though. What's so wrong with Lois knowing that Clark is Superman? They both hold a burden, and have to make a sacrifice that way. It would have been a much better "director's cut" if they had made that North Pole scene the final scene, IMHO.

Thanks, man. Some people think that the hokey truck-driver scene should be the last scene, but even if you correct the reverse-the-world rehash, it still doesn't fly with superman's character. Superman doesn't seek revenge, or personal retaliaition.
So I'd just stop it at that North Pole scene, which is gut-wrenching. One of the best acted scenes in the two films.

Feb. 25, 2010, 6:26 p.m. CST

by @gape

Actually, come to think of it, the rebuilding of the rotundra of the White House, and the space flight might be the way to close. However, with the uber-edit, one would want to get rid of the space flight at the end of the first film to make it more impressive at the end of the second half.

For the most part. I understand now what he was attempting to do - to make an epic American Fable, but it failed as all subsequent Superman movies have failed, because he ignored the reason the folks want to see an action adventure based Superhero movie. Namely: Action. <p> Yes, Supe II the best of all of them, was memorable only because of the big fight scene. <p>

I liked Superman Returns but it pissed me off at how little action occured in the movie. It was almost like an origin story/bad romantic lifetime movie. The only good reason to have a Lois/ Superman love child in my opinion is so that some big bad like Brainiac or DoomsDay could come along and destroy it setting up the "angry God" concept that Singer wanted to go with in the sequel. Problem is he fucked up the first one so bad nobody wanted his sequel. When you look at everybodys post on here it's clear we all want the same thing from a reboot..good story telling,action, and REAL villans. I'm praying that Goyer and Nolan are really doing this together .If it's done in the same vein as The Dark Knight it could make that much money if not more.

Keifer Sutherland or even Kevin Spacey as the voice of Brainiac. All we want to see is a real balls out Superman. We want to see him pissed off, punching and kicking bad guys at full force. Bring out another kryptonian like Zod or a Zod type. Put the earth in some real peril.

Absolutely! I am sick an tired of Luthor though - although I agree that Zane would be a very good choice. But we need a kick ass superman movie. There is no law that says a great story can not have great action. The producers have been wedded to the wrong concept - Donners, of Supes ever since the first movie: Reverent and slow moving, filled with visual queues to present an idealized - and sterile, version of Americana interrupted only by Lex Luthors occasional real estate scheme. Yeah, occasional - as in every damn movie.

...Neither will Singer. They have both been "off the project" for a long, long time. Pretty much waaay back in early 2007 when Variety announced that Singer's "writers" were "departing" the project was when this "Superman 3.0" began to formulate. All this should be pretty obvious to "all but the most casual observer." Warner Bros. is ready to begin anew -- this time, with less Donner-isms (i.e. NONE) more action, more mythology, and most importantly, more FUN.

Even when I was like 8 and Superman II was being shown on TV for the first time, I found it creepy as hell. "Wait, Superman just spent the whole movie with HIS DICK INSIDE that chick and now he just gave her a SUPER ROOFY KISS? 'THE FUCK!?" (I was advanced for my age).

Know why? Because they didn't try to say "how do we make this appeal to women also?" I'm so fucking sick of everything being made to appeal to the broadest marketing demographic. And here's where the marketing addled nitwits explain to me why things have to be that way. I GET IT, YOU CUNTS. I just don't think everything has to be that way. By maximizing profits on everything you reduce the value of the entire human experience. You fucking vapid whores.

Feb. 25, 2010, 9:27 p.m. CST

by plisskenman

Jon Hamm as Superman works, no weak young guy in the role.
Rose Byrne - Lois Lane worksd as well, she is very talented.

Could we EVER have a Superman movie WITHOUT Lex Luthor? How about going completely sci-fi - as in off-planet - with maybe Darkseid as the antagonist. Let me guess, Lex Luthor makes a deal with Braniac: Lex helps Braniac get Superman, and with him out of commission, Braniac helps Lex crash the moon into the Earth so Lex can get rich by selling lunar real-estate...